BEIJING - China's government-backed "patriotic" Catholic Church began a three-day meeting Tuesday to choose new leaders, defying objections from the Vatican that the conclave has no formal standing with the true Catholic Church and further straining the Chinese government's increasingly fraught relationship with the Holy See.
Pope Benedict XVI has told Catholic bishops not to attend the gathering, called the Assembly of Chinese Catholic Representatives, being held in Beijing. "This kind of organization completely contradicts the Church's hierarchy," said Anthony Lam, researcher with the Holy Spirit Study Unit, which is part of the Diocese of Hong Kong. "The Holy See has already informed all individual bishops not to attend this kind of meeting."
There were reports, however, that Chinese police have been dispatched to parishes searching for bishops and forcing them to attend. The Web site of the government's religious affairs office said late Tuesday that the conference was attended by 341 representatives, including 64 bishops, 162 priests, 24 nuns and 91 other church members.
A friar at the Jing county cathedral, in Hebei province, described one dramatic scene Monday night when scores of Chinese police officers dragged away Bishop Feng Xinmao after a six-hour standoff, with more than 30 priests encircling a police car with the bishop inside.
"Bishop Feng was kidnapped and forced to attend that meeting," said the friar, who was interviewed by telephone and spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. After the bishop was allowed to attend the funeral of a priest who had died, the friar said police tried to take the bishop away but met a strong but peaceful protest from his congregation.
"There were so many priests, friars, nuns and church members," the friar said. "The officials called for more cars and for more police backup. Some of the nuns and church members cried because they didn't want the bishop to be taken away. In the end, the bishop had to go with them.
"The Communist Party planned this whole meeting, and they want all the bishops to attend so, in the end, they can take photos and use them in their propaganda to say we have religious freedom," the friar said. "But most of the bishops didn't want to go because, the Vatican doesn't approve."
There were news agency reports of other bishops being brought against their will to Beijing or who were trying to hide.
The gathering of the pro-government group comes a little more than two weeks after China ordained a new bishop in Hebei province without the Vatican's approval - and forced other Vatican-backed prelates to attend the ceremony. That Nov. 20 ordination, of the Rev. Joseph Guo Jincai as bishop of Chengde, was sharply denounced in an official Vatican statement, which said the pope considered it "a painful wound."
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman called the ordination "illicit and damaging to the constructive relations that have been developing in recent times between the People's Republic of China and the Holy See," according to the Vatican Information Service.
A Vatican statement said Guo now faced "severe sanctions" - meaning automatic excommunication. And the Vatican said forcing at least eight of Pope Benedict's bishops to attend the "illicit" ordination constituted a "grave violation of freedom of religion and conscience."
China's Communist leaders and the Holy See were also at odds last month over the appointment of a government official as the vice rector of the Catholic seminary in Shijiazhuang, also in Hebei province. The appointment caused two weeks of unusual protests by the seminary students, but there were reports that the students returned to classes today.
The Vatican has not had normal relations with China since 1951, when the country's new Communist rulers forced its Roman Catholics to sever ties with the Holy See. China's Communists established their own officially sanctioned Catholic Church under the control of the Patriotic Association, which oversees appointments of top clergy. But millions of Chinese Catholics still worship at "underground" churches loyal to the pope.
Relations were particularly strained during the papacy of John Paul II, who was viewed warily by Beijing's leaders as an ardent anti-Communist crusader who was responsible for the downfall of communism in his native Poland and across Eastern Europe.
When Pope Benedict ascended to St. Peter's throne in 2005, there were hopes for a rapprochement, and the pontiff made establishing diplomatic relations with China a top priority. In a 2007 letter to China's Catholic clergy and worshipers, Benedict said the church "does not have a mission to change the structure or administration of the State."
At the same time, the pontiff said it was "indispensable, for the unity of the Church" that bishops be "in visible and concrete communion with the Pope." That meant the pope was preserving his right to appoint all bishops.
In nearly five years, China has not ordained bishops without the pope's tacit approval. So the ordination of Guo in Hebei seemed oddly timed, leading to speculation that some elements in China may have been trying to sabotage the move to better ties.
"There are some elements of the Chinese bureaucracy that just don't want an agreement," said Thomas F. Farr, senior fellow at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. "There's an internal dynamic to them calling this conference," with some hardliners aiming "to frustrate something that may have been moving toward an accord."
The Tuesday conclave is aimed at electing two new leaders, a president of the Patriotic Association and a chairman of the council of bishops. The two positions have been vacant since 2007 and 2005, when two "patriotic bishops" died.
The National Assembly of Catholic Representatives is considered the Chinese patriotic church's highest body, but the Vatican has called it "irreconcilable" with Catholic faith that puts the leadership of the true church in the Holy See. The group's meeting has been repeatedly postponed for years, with various reasons given - but some Catholic sources say the real reason for the delay was the fear that the pope's approved bishops would refuse to attend.
He Guanghu, a professor of religious studies at Beijing's Renmin University, said while relations had become better in recent years, conflicts remained "inevitable" because the core issue remains sovereignty. "China's principle hasn't changed since the 1950s, which is the right to elect its own bishops," he said. "This principle contradicts the Vatican's traditional and law.
"Lots of people in China still think that giving up the control of religion is to give up sovereignty," He said. "But if we look at the Philippines, South Korea and other Western countries, they separated the religion from the politics, and their sovereignty hasn't been affected at all."
(Source: Staff researcher Liu Liu contributed to this report., http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/07/AR2010120702673.html?wprss=rss_world/europe)
Pope Benedict XVI has told Catholic bishops not to attend the gathering, called the Assembly of Chinese Catholic Representatives, being held in Beijing. "This kind of organization completely contradicts the Church's hierarchy," said Anthony Lam, researcher with the Holy Spirit Study Unit, which is part of the Diocese of Hong Kong. "The Holy See has already informed all individual bishops not to attend this kind of meeting."
There were reports, however, that Chinese police have been dispatched to parishes searching for bishops and forcing them to attend. The Web site of the government's religious affairs office said late Tuesday that the conference was attended by 341 representatives, including 64 bishops, 162 priests, 24 nuns and 91 other church members.
A friar at the Jing county cathedral, in Hebei province, described one dramatic scene Monday night when scores of Chinese police officers dragged away Bishop Feng Xinmao after a six-hour standoff, with more than 30 priests encircling a police car with the bishop inside.
"Bishop Feng was kidnapped and forced to attend that meeting," said the friar, who was interviewed by telephone and spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. After the bishop was allowed to attend the funeral of a priest who had died, the friar said police tried to take the bishop away but met a strong but peaceful protest from his congregation.
"There were so many priests, friars, nuns and church members," the friar said. "The officials called for more cars and for more police backup. Some of the nuns and church members cried because they didn't want the bishop to be taken away. In the end, the bishop had to go with them.
"The Communist Party planned this whole meeting, and they want all the bishops to attend so, in the end, they can take photos and use them in their propaganda to say we have religious freedom," the friar said. "But most of the bishops didn't want to go because, the Vatican doesn't approve."
There were news agency reports of other bishops being brought against their will to Beijing or who were trying to hide.
The gathering of the pro-government group comes a little more than two weeks after China ordained a new bishop in Hebei province without the Vatican's approval - and forced other Vatican-backed prelates to attend the ceremony. That Nov. 20 ordination, of the Rev. Joseph Guo Jincai as bishop of Chengde, was sharply denounced in an official Vatican statement, which said the pope considered it "a painful wound."
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman called the ordination "illicit and damaging to the constructive relations that have been developing in recent times between the People's Republic of China and the Holy See," according to the Vatican Information Service.
A Vatican statement said Guo now faced "severe sanctions" - meaning automatic excommunication. And the Vatican said forcing at least eight of Pope Benedict's bishops to attend the "illicit" ordination constituted a "grave violation of freedom of religion and conscience."
China's Communist leaders and the Holy See were also at odds last month over the appointment of a government official as the vice rector of the Catholic seminary in Shijiazhuang, also in Hebei province. The appointment caused two weeks of unusual protests by the seminary students, but there were reports that the students returned to classes today.
The Vatican has not had normal relations with China since 1951, when the country's new Communist rulers forced its Roman Catholics to sever ties with the Holy See. China's Communists established their own officially sanctioned Catholic Church under the control of the Patriotic Association, which oversees appointments of top clergy. But millions of Chinese Catholics still worship at "underground" churches loyal to the pope.
Relations were particularly strained during the papacy of John Paul II, who was viewed warily by Beijing's leaders as an ardent anti-Communist crusader who was responsible for the downfall of communism in his native Poland and across Eastern Europe.
When Pope Benedict ascended to St. Peter's throne in 2005, there were hopes for a rapprochement, and the pontiff made establishing diplomatic relations with China a top priority. In a 2007 letter to China's Catholic clergy and worshipers, Benedict said the church "does not have a mission to change the structure or administration of the State."
At the same time, the pontiff said it was "indispensable, for the unity of the Church" that bishops be "in visible and concrete communion with the Pope." That meant the pope was preserving his right to appoint all bishops.
In nearly five years, China has not ordained bishops without the pope's tacit approval. So the ordination of Guo in Hebei seemed oddly timed, leading to speculation that some elements in China may have been trying to sabotage the move to better ties.
"There are some elements of the Chinese bureaucracy that just don't want an agreement," said Thomas F. Farr, senior fellow at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. "There's an internal dynamic to them calling this conference," with some hardliners aiming "to frustrate something that may have been moving toward an accord."
The Tuesday conclave is aimed at electing two new leaders, a president of the Patriotic Association and a chairman of the council of bishops. The two positions have been vacant since 2007 and 2005, when two "patriotic bishops" died.
The National Assembly of Catholic Representatives is considered the Chinese patriotic church's highest body, but the Vatican has called it "irreconcilable" with Catholic faith that puts the leadership of the true church in the Holy See. The group's meeting has been repeatedly postponed for years, with various reasons given - but some Catholic sources say the real reason for the delay was the fear that the pope's approved bishops would refuse to attend.
He Guanghu, a professor of religious studies at Beijing's Renmin University, said while relations had become better in recent years, conflicts remained "inevitable" because the core issue remains sovereignty. "China's principle hasn't changed since the 1950s, which is the right to elect its own bishops," he said. "This principle contradicts the Vatican's traditional and law.
"Lots of people in China still think that giving up the control of religion is to give up sovereignty," He said. "But if we look at the Philippines, South Korea and other Western countries, they separated the religion from the politics, and their sovereignty hasn't been affected at all."
(Source: Staff researcher Liu Liu contributed to this report., http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/07/AR2010120702673.html?wprss=rss_world/europe)